


What It Means To Be Free

by Stormbadger



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 13:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3852328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormbadger/pseuds/Stormbadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A gem, free from everything except her own mind.<br/>A gem, far from the comforts of her routines.<br/>A gem, a caged beast yearning for the wild.</p><p>Steven Universe AU set not too long after the events of 'Jailbreak', focusing on the perspectives of Lapis, Peridot and Jasper as they come to terms with their isolation on Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What It Means To Be Free

Air.

Lapis felt heavy, lying on the beach, half-embedded in the sand as the waves sloshed over her legs and her back. The water and exhaustion anchoring her to the beach as her mind regained its footing.

Free. She was free. Something she had not felt for such a long time. She laughed softly, but soon it mutated into something more enthusiastic - manic or ecstatic, she didn't know, but it felt good.

Still laughing, she pulled herself to her feet, damp sand falling from her opening hands as she spread her arms wide.

Freedom. Pure and unbridled.

Well, almost. She was still on Earth - how long had she been trapped with Jasper? Months? Years? Felt like years to her. She had to find a way to leave Earth and return home-

Homeworld was not an option, she thought as another spike of reality stabbed her enthusiasm. There was virtually no other gem-held world she could go to. They probably had warnings and poster demanding her capture all over them by now. 

She could leave Earth. Find another world to live in - but finding one that wasn't controlled by the gems would be next to impossible without some clever planning and access to Homeworld tech. And she had no idea what any of it did, or how it worked, or anything. She had been away from home so long she had never adapted.

She fell to her knees again, eyes staring up at the dark, cloudy sky. She had nowhere to go. She had to stay here. Trapped on Earth.

Trapped again. With a curse, she slammed her fist on the sand, the water behind her reacting to her rage. She was finally free of prisons, only to be trapped on a world she never believed in with gems who had kept her trapped for countless years.

Her thoughts, and her focus, broke when she heard a metallic thud. Her teary eyes scanned up and around to look for the source of the disturbance. And she found it.

It was a humanoid figure, green in colour from what brief glimpse she saw. It had just scurried behind a piece of emerald rubble.

Lapis brought her hand up and panned it to the side. A thin wave from the ocean ran underneath the debris, pulling it away not a second later, revealling the figure behind it.

Her.

It was that green gem that she had seen next to Jasper many times. The one who piloted the ship. The one who had helped imprison her on it. And on this planet.

The gem looked shocked. Good. She should be.

With a cry of rage, Lapis once more swung her hand, move violently this time, as a wave crashed into and toppled over the green gem, sending her into the far wall.

"You!" Lapis bellowed, her hand clenching into a fist as she sent a fist of water crashing into the gem as well. She began walking forwards, slowly.

The green gem screamed as water curled around her, bringing her high up into the air. Lapis found a suitably sharp rock to bring her up over.

"You trapped me here! It's your fault!"

"Help! Jasper! Anybody!" the green gem cried as she she squirmed, fear in her eyes.

Lapis stopped, hand still outstretched, ready to open at any second. "You are the reason I can't go home! You are the reason I'm trapped on this planet and can't leave!"

"W-wait, no, it wasn't-"

"I don't care!" Lapis screamed, her grip tightening. "Thanks to you, I can never be free again!"

"It wasn't my fault, I was just following orders!" the gem continued as she squirmed pointlessly. "Please let me go!"

Lapis grinned maliciously. Somewhere inside her, something else was grinning, and it sent a shiver through her spine. "You want me to let you go?"

Before the green gem could respond, she released her grip, and let her plummet down.

What she wasn't expecting was for her to curl up and simply smash her way through the rock with a tremendous noise following afterwards, not to mention the cloud of sand, dust and debris.

She couldn't be sure the gem was gone. With her water hand, she swiped away the cloud and sent the limb into the sea. That hand still outstretched, she called water towards her, transforming it into a deadly, sharp blade, and stalked forwards.

The green gem had brought herself up to her feet, barely. One arm was gripping her side, the other holding one of those gem destabilisers. She was shaking, but was putting on her best attempt at a fierce war face.

Lapis held out her blade, and willed the blade to snap out like a whip at the destabiliser, slicing it in half and rendering the gem unarmed. The gem's eyes widened with fear again, and she began to turn.

Not this time. Another hand of water reached out to snatch her up, coiling around her body and pulling her upside down as Lapis got within sword range of the gem.

The green gem's eyes looked everywhere, but stopped on Lapis' blade, pointed at her forehead.

"Wait, no, you don't want me!" the gem screamed, futiley struggling against her bindings. "I'm just a technician, I only follow orders and-"

"It doesn't matter! It's your fault I'm here, and now..." Lapis didn't even bother finishing, instead just pulling her arm back to thrust her blade right into the technician's forehead.

And in a single motion, she thrust the blade forwards.

...almost.

She stopped with an inch between blade and gem. Another noise had stopped her.

She blinked, then directed her gaze to the technician's face. She was... crying?

She could push her blade forward. End it all. Rid herself of one of her captors. It would be so easy. So simple. One stab, and then she would be closer to being free.

But she couldn't. There was something about the look of terror in the green gem's eyes. It took her a few seconds to register it, but she realised what it was.

This gem was a prisoner. She was helpless. She had no control, she had no way of leaving, and would be killed otherwise.

Lapis let out a long sigh, letting the water leave her control and splash to the ground. The green gem fell with it too, though landed with less grace and elegance.

The technician curled up on herself, rolling to her side. Lapis could hear her sobbing - no, bawling. She seemed so helpless. So scared. Just like her.

Peridot. That was her name. She knew this gem, but... her name had been unable to come to her mind. She had been someone else for too long, she mused. She didn't feel like she was herself.

She reached out a hand to put it on Peridot's shoulder. The moment she made contact, the green gem flinched, backing up quickly into the next solid object, cowering once again.

Something inside Lapis told her it was good she was scared. That Peridot was terried of her. But... that wasn't herself. That was... something else.

She sighed once more, then walked slowly over towards Peridot, kneeling down in front of her.

"P-p-please... d-don't hurt..." the green gem said in between sobs.

"I won't," Lapis said, quietly. "I... I'm sorry. I got carried away."

Peridot peeked up from behind her hand, tears still in her eyes. She looked away, sniffing.

"All I want to do is... I want to go home," Lapis murmured, "but I can't."

Peridot finally spoke, calming down a little more. "I... I c-can't either."

Lapis looked around at the beach. It was then she remembered what all this debris was - Peridot's warship. She couldn't leave either. Different circumstances, naturally, but still imprisoned.

Just like her.

Lapis frowned. She couldn't just leave Peridot here - not only because it meant she could come back later to capture her, but... well, it wasn't exactly like they had any options left.

"Come with me."

"Wh... what?" Peridot stuttered as she pulled her hands from her face to her knees. "What do you mean by that...?"

"I mean you and I should get off this beach and find somewhere to hide. Somewhere where I... we... can regain ourselves and work out what to do."

Peridot shook her head. Her voice, still cracked, carried a serious tone behind it. "I can't... I need to find-"

There was a shout from behind Lapis. She looked from the corner at her eyes, only for her to gasp.

It was the Crystal Gems.

While they were still forming a plan, Lapis made sure they couldn't get through, waving a hand to create a rushing wall of water between them and her.

"We need to leave, now."

Peridot had stood up, although looked to be struggling to simply hold herself up. "Why?"

"The Crystal Gems. If they catch us, we'll become their prisoners. And I am not letting that happen ever again."

A crimson gauntlet punched through the water wall, though the current made it slide away. It didn't stop the gem from trying to break through anyway.

"You can stay here and be chained up, or you can follow me and be free. It's up to you."

"But must locate something here!" Peridot yelled over the cacophony of the rushing water. "It's vital to my mission!"

"We can come back later," Lapis snapped back. "Now hurry up!"

Peridot stood there, looking around at the area, before finally stomping over. "Fine, but this had better not be some form of trickery!"

"Grab hold of me," was all Lapis said in response. Despite brief objections from Peridot, she did as told, and Lapis took to the skies, keeping the wall up for as long as possible before letting it fall harmlessly, leaving the Crystal Gems - and that beach town - behind.

Peridot was clinging perhaps a little too hard, however. "And where, exactly, are we going?"

"Anywhere but there."

"Just make it quick."

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more of this sort of thing coming up in the near future. The next focus character: Peridot (aka green space dorito).
> 
> Can't say I'm too proud of how this came out, but it has been a while since I've written anything substantial and this is me trying to get back into it.
> 
> I have narry an idea when the next chapter will be out, but it should be within a few months.


End file.
